


What Could Have Been

by I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen, Happy Ending, Happy Obi-Wan Kenobi, ObiTine Week 2018, Satine Kryze Lives, fix-it AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:20:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26483308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning/pseuds/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning
Summary: Late in the war, Satine "gives the word" and Obi-Wan says yes. There's just a couple things he has to do first, for conscience' sake.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze
Comments: 35
Kudos: 328





	What Could Have Been

**Author's Note:**

> Written for ObitineWeek2018, Day 2: What Could Have Been (September 25th)
> 
> ... Didn't get it done in time. How's two years late sound?

When Obi-Wan answered the comm from Satine, his first reaction was panic.

Just in case Maul had somehow returned from the grave after his failed attempt to take over Mandalore, and Satine was in danger again.

Instead, she looked whole and unharmed, and utterly grave.

“Does your offer to leave the Order for me still stand?”

Obi-Wan felt the air punched out of him, his heart beginning to thunder like it was trying to die. “Yes,” he whispered.

“I am ready,” she said. “I know it took me a _very_ long time to say these words, but I find I _can,_ now: Obi-Wan Kenobi, I want you resign your place in the Jedi Order and to join me on Mandalore as my consort, and perhaps someday my husband. As soon as your conscience will allow you to leave.”

“Let me finish the war,” Obi-Wan said, and his voice shook, and he wasn't sure if he was pink or dead white, he was shaking, he felt jubilation and terror and dread and hope all in one, “and then I will come to you.”

“You better not come in a coffin, do you hear me?” Satine asked, and there was only mock-severity in her tone, but her eyes were wet and the line of her mouth quivering just a bit, too. “You waited for me for nineteen years, but I am Mandalorian, and I will not be able to wait that long for you.”

Obi-Wan smiled a bit, at that. “You have always been fervent, Satine.”

“By that you mean impatient, and you're right. Keep safe, Obi.”

“For you? Always.”

* * *

“You're going to _what_.”

“I have been waiting a long time to see if this something would happen, and it finally has. I'm telling you because you deserve to hear it from me.”

“But— you can't _leave the Order._ ”

Obi-Wan simply shrugged. “That is simply not true, Anakin. Most of those who leave do so on friendly terms, because they want something else. They still have friends in the Order, are generally well respected in their new communities, and it's easy for a former Jedi to find work in various security industries. You've never seemed to believe that, but it's true. Once Dooku and Grievous are captured or killed, I will retire to a Mandalorian palace.”

_Maybe... maybe even have a baby._ The thought made him feel just a bit wistful.

“But the Jedi Order is your _life,_ Obi-Wan.” Anakin almost looked angry. “How could you turn your back on it all?”

“I won't be burning my bridges, Anakin. I will remain friends with Mace, Kit— do you remember when Eeth left, a few months ago, and got married? Many of us still correspond with him, Anakin. He wanted a family, is all, none of us begrudge him that, we wish him peace and happiness. I wanted to be a Jedi Knight and help people: I have been and done that. I don't believe in things lasting forever, there are seasons, and this season, though I have dearly loved it, is drawing to a close, and a new, exciting one is opening up. You don't have to hate a thing in order to recognize it's time for something new, and it doesn't mean the decisions of the past were automatically mistakes. I am glad I was a Jedi, I am glad I will be a consort. I wouldn't trade either of those seasons for anything.”

Anakin sat heavily on one of the two beds, bracing his head between his hands and sinking his fingers in his hair. “But it's your _life,_ ” he mumbled again.

“Anakin... my oaths are kept, and if I am honorably released of them, there is no shame for me. I have broken no oaths. Not to the Order, not to myself, not to Qui-Gon. Because I _did_ swear to Qui-Gon, after—” _Melida/Daan—_ “I swore to him that I would complete my apprenticeship and become a knight. I did. And then I swore to him I would see you made a knight, and I have, and you are an _excellent_ Knight. I swore to you I would help you with Ahsoka, and she no longer needs us.”

Anakin winced. “That is not true.”

“She's on her own, Anakin, and she's thriving. She's doing quite well without us. That capability is _hers._ She fought for it and earned it, and though it might be difficult for us to see the adult in the youngling we raised, she _is_ proving herself to be one. I will remain in this war, because I cannot abandon you, Anakin, to fight Grievous and Dooku alone.”

Anakin's head snapped up and he stared at Obi-Wan with wide eyes.

“And then it will be time for me to do something simply because I want to. Because it will harm no being for me to do so, and because I will break no oath, break no trust. I will be able to rest easy, with my conscience clear, knowing I have done right by all of you, as far as I could see it, and made what amends I could for mistakes I—”

“I get it,” Anakin interrupted, but his voice was gentle, not angry. “You deserve to be happy, Obi-Wan. I mean that.”

* * *

It ended up being _three_ threats to freedom instead of two, but with Grievous, Dooku, and Sidious dead, Obi-Wan walked down the steps of the Jedi Temple for the first time as simply a man, not a Jedi.

When he reached Mandalore, perhaps it was not quite as cinematic as some might like, but kissing could come later, after all. For now, they just hugged, near unable to let go, just feeling the solid _livingness_ of each other.

“Obi,” Satine breathed, holding him so tight his ribs ached, just a bit.

He squeezed in return, eyes shut, unable to speak, just breathing in the presence of her.

He heard a joyful giggle, recognized the breeze of the Cosmic Force, showing just a glimpse of red hair and a Kryze nose...

_“Aayhan Jinn Kryze—”_ called Future Satine, sounding just a little bit annoyed, and near bursting with love at the same time.

_A troublemaker,_ Obi-Wan realized. _We will create a troublemaker._

As the wraiths of the future vanished from his mind, Obi-Wan pressed a kiss to the side of Satine's head and smiled.

The new season of his life had begun.


End file.
